John Calapari is the coach of Kentucky's men's basketball team.
Only one coach has a winning record against Calapari.
That coach is Bob Huggins. He's 8-2 against Calapari.
Bob Huggins coaches West Virginia University's men's basketball team.
They play--Kentucky and West Virginia--in about half an hour.
Kentucky is 36-0 this year. West Virginia is 25-9.
No way West Virginia can beat Kentucky--which has probably 8 players who will play in the NBA. West Virginia has, maybe, two.
But let me dream for a few minutes.
WVU beats Kentucky and goes to the Elite Eight!
Imagine that!
Even I can't quite imagine it, but let me dream for a few minutes.
OK?
Gooooooo Mountaineers...............!!!!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Going to the 'young retired' meeting
Come the end of April, I will have been retired 6 years. I retired the month I had 30 years in the Church Pension fund and was old enough to take SS at 62. (I know people tell you to wait before taking social security) but I figured out I'd be 82 before waiting until 66 would draw even with the amount of money I'd get taking it at 62. Seemed a good bet to me (my father lived to 83 and hopefully I will as well, but by then I'm sure I can live on what I get from the Pension Fund and SS--'free money'...well, not really, it's my money the Pension Fund and the US has been holding for me all these years.)
So, I get invited to a 'young retired priest' gathering at the Commons--what used to be called 'the Diocesan House' but our bishop has re-branded things and moved the headquarters from a mansion in Hartford to a former ball bearing factory in Meridan. Much better, for my taste, and calling it "the Commons" is so New England and so inclusive.
I called my dear friend, Bonni McKinney, at the Commons and asked, "Am I a young retired priest?"
She assured me I was and I look forward to the meeting.
Our Bishop, Ian Douglas, (call me "Ian", he always says just as I tell people to call me "Jim" rather than "Father Bradley"...so I like him a lot) says their are four 'buckets' of priests. This is a fascinating thought and, I believe, so true.
Bucket One is seminary trained priests who work full time as priests. That group is shrinking. In the Diocese of Connecticut 20% of 'full time jobs' have disappeared in the last 5 or 6 years. Places that had 2 assistants now have one. Churches that had a full time assistant no longer do. Places that had a full time priest (just one) might not now.
Bucket Two are seminary trained priests who thought they would work full time but don't anymore. Their jobs were down-sized or there just aren't enough full time jobs around. So, they work part time and figure out how to make more money.
Bucket Three are folks like me--seminary trained, full time priests who are retired and work part time in the church. There are lots of us (baby boomers, after all) and we are holding the places for the priests, who don't exist in large numbers, in Bucket Four.
Bucket Four are priests, either seminary trained or ordained in some other way, who never expected to be 'full time' in ministry. Connecticut no longer accepts folks into the ordination process who can't 'make a living' outside the church. This is the future but there aren't many of them yet so recently retired 'full time' priests are filling in until this bucket of priests is finally available.
I even like the image of 'buckets of priests', swimming around like bait minnows in a bucket of water. I like that image, I really, really do.
And moving from bucket one to bucket three has been a joy for me. I love what I do and look forward to sharing a few hours tomorrow with people like me--first bucket folks who leaped to bucket three....
So, I get invited to a 'young retired priest' gathering at the Commons--what used to be called 'the Diocesan House' but our bishop has re-branded things and moved the headquarters from a mansion in Hartford to a former ball bearing factory in Meridan. Much better, for my taste, and calling it "the Commons" is so New England and so inclusive.
I called my dear friend, Bonni McKinney, at the Commons and asked, "Am I a young retired priest?"
She assured me I was and I look forward to the meeting.
Our Bishop, Ian Douglas, (call me "Ian", he always says just as I tell people to call me "Jim" rather than "Father Bradley"...so I like him a lot) says their are four 'buckets' of priests. This is a fascinating thought and, I believe, so true.
Bucket One is seminary trained priests who work full time as priests. That group is shrinking. In the Diocese of Connecticut 20% of 'full time jobs' have disappeared in the last 5 or 6 years. Places that had 2 assistants now have one. Churches that had a full time assistant no longer do. Places that had a full time priest (just one) might not now.
Bucket Two are seminary trained priests who thought they would work full time but don't anymore. Their jobs were down-sized or there just aren't enough full time jobs around. So, they work part time and figure out how to make more money.
Bucket Three are folks like me--seminary trained, full time priests who are retired and work part time in the church. There are lots of us (baby boomers, after all) and we are holding the places for the priests, who don't exist in large numbers, in Bucket Four.
Bucket Four are priests, either seminary trained or ordained in some other way, who never expected to be 'full time' in ministry. Connecticut no longer accepts folks into the ordination process who can't 'make a living' outside the church. This is the future but there aren't many of them yet so recently retired 'full time' priests are filling in until this bucket of priests is finally available.
I even like the image of 'buckets of priests', swimming around like bait minnows in a bucket of water. I like that image, I really, really do.
And moving from bucket one to bucket three has been a joy for me. I love what I do and look forward to sharing a few hours tomorrow with people like me--first bucket folks who leaped to bucket three....
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Basketball as the light fades....
I just went outside on our back porch and realized that the kids in the house next door were out in the driveway playing basketball.
Memory flooded back of playing basketball in our yard as a kid as the light faded.
My father found someone to put up a basket in our yard (he wasn't 'handy' and could have never done it himself--by the way, I found someone to put up a basket for my son, since I'm not 'handy' either) and my friends and I played for hours and hours every day there wasn't any snow on the ground--and sometimes when there was, with a heavy, cold basketball.
Danny Taylor, Billy Bridgeman, Kyle Parks, Bobby LaFon, Jo-Jo Tagnesi, Bennie Graham, others too, wore out the grass on our lawn and played basketball for hours and hours in the summer--nothing else to do in Anawalt.
Who didn't play with us were any Black kids. Though McDowell County, West Virginia was the only county in the US, outside the deep, deep South, to have a 50/50 Black/White population, we were segregated to the extreme.
I only knew two black people by name: Gene and Nora--Gene worked in my uncle Russel's grocery store and Nora was his housekeeper. Amazing how you don't know the names of half the people around you....Oh, I did know the names of a couple of Black guys who hung around my Uncle Del's Esso station. Russel and Del seemed unfazed by the segregation.
And as the light faded, Danny and Billy and Kyle and Bobby and Jo-Jo and Bennie and I would play basketball.
And in other places Black boys would play basketball as the light faded.
Memory flooded back of playing basketball in our yard as a kid as the light faded.
My father found someone to put up a basket in our yard (he wasn't 'handy' and could have never done it himself--by the way, I found someone to put up a basket for my son, since I'm not 'handy' either) and my friends and I played for hours and hours every day there wasn't any snow on the ground--and sometimes when there was, with a heavy, cold basketball.
Danny Taylor, Billy Bridgeman, Kyle Parks, Bobby LaFon, Jo-Jo Tagnesi, Bennie Graham, others too, wore out the grass on our lawn and played basketball for hours and hours in the summer--nothing else to do in Anawalt.
Who didn't play with us were any Black kids. Though McDowell County, West Virginia was the only county in the US, outside the deep, deep South, to have a 50/50 Black/White population, we were segregated to the extreme.
I only knew two black people by name: Gene and Nora--Gene worked in my uncle Russel's grocery store and Nora was his housekeeper. Amazing how you don't know the names of half the people around you....Oh, I did know the names of a couple of Black guys who hung around my Uncle Del's Esso station. Russel and Del seemed unfazed by the segregation.
And as the light faded, Danny and Billy and Kyle and Bobby and Jo-Jo and Bennie and I would play basketball.
And in other places Black boys would play basketball as the light faded.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Ted Cruz for President
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the first two to start a campaign.
This couldn't get any better.
Bring in the clowns.
This is going to be so much fun.....
This couldn't get any better.
Bring in the clowns.
This is going to be so much fun.....
Sunday, March 22, 2015
OK, OK...
WVU just beat Maryland to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA basketball tournament. They won by 10.
Now they get to play Kentucky--undefeated and supposedly unbeatable.
Let's try out the power of prayer, alright?
Pray for Bob Huggins and his team as hard as you can and if they beat Kentucky we'll know for sure that there is a God.
That's worth trying, right?
Now they get to play Kentucky--undefeated and supposedly unbeatable.
Let's try out the power of prayer, alright?
Pray for Bob Huggins and his team as hard as you can and if they beat Kentucky we'll know for sure that there is a God.
That's worth trying, right?
Saturday, March 21, 2015
You'd never know it from what I write
You'd never know it from what I write in this space but I grew up being a potential Republican.
My father never, to my knowledge, voted for a Democrat in a time when West Virginia was a solidlyl 'Blue' state (though that terminology wasn't around back then). And, for a time, as a teen, I was a big Barry Goldwater fan. I even spray painted a building in Anawalt--my only foray into graffiti--with "AU H2O". I should have gotten in trouble but my father and his two brothers were all significant people in our little (500 people) town, so I got away with it.
Then, in a debate, Goldwater (who to me at the time seemed to represent a quasi -libertarian point of view that was attractive to my high school brain) said he would privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority and he lost me. Southern West Virginia got their electricity from the TVA and I suddenly realized I was a socialist leaning, left-wing Democrat.
After that, my father and I had heated discussions about politics. It was my adolescent rebellion to declare myself a Democrat.
And like him, from the other side, I've never voted for a Republican.
And, at this point in history, I'm proud of that.
Republicans want to take healthcare from 11,000,000 people, many of them children.
Republicans want to cut back drastically on Food Stamps.
Republicans (many of them) are Climate Change deniers.
Republicans seek to block the right to vote for millions of Americans.
Republicans want to block a treaty with Iran over nuclear power and weapons (even as Iran is one of the countries most involved in opposing Isis.)
Republicans want the tax code to favor the rich.
Republicans are opposed to raising the minimum raise, a woman's right to choose and equal rights for GLBTQ folks.
Republicans would put boots on the ground again in the Mid-East.
Republicans would back Israel no matter what (refusal to stop settlements and opposition to the Two State Solution not withstanding).
And I come from a Republican family.
My father wouldn't recognize the current Republican/Tea Party group as "Republican" at all. He was an Eisenhower, Rockefeller, Brooke Republican.
"Who are these people?" he would ask, if he could.
I ask the same thing. Is this really one of the two American parties or something else altogether?
Goldwater wouldn't recognize this fiasco as his party. I'm sure of that.
God help us....
My father never, to my knowledge, voted for a Democrat in a time when West Virginia was a solidlyl 'Blue' state (though that terminology wasn't around back then). And, for a time, as a teen, I was a big Barry Goldwater fan. I even spray painted a building in Anawalt--my only foray into graffiti--with "AU H2O". I should have gotten in trouble but my father and his two brothers were all significant people in our little (500 people) town, so I got away with it.
Then, in a debate, Goldwater (who to me at the time seemed to represent a quasi -libertarian point of view that was attractive to my high school brain) said he would privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority and he lost me. Southern West Virginia got their electricity from the TVA and I suddenly realized I was a socialist leaning, left-wing Democrat.
After that, my father and I had heated discussions about politics. It was my adolescent rebellion to declare myself a Democrat.
And like him, from the other side, I've never voted for a Republican.
And, at this point in history, I'm proud of that.
Republicans want to take healthcare from 11,000,000 people, many of them children.
Republicans want to cut back drastically on Food Stamps.
Republicans (many of them) are Climate Change deniers.
Republicans seek to block the right to vote for millions of Americans.
Republicans want to block a treaty with Iran over nuclear power and weapons (even as Iran is one of the countries most involved in opposing Isis.)
Republicans want the tax code to favor the rich.
Republicans are opposed to raising the minimum raise, a woman's right to choose and equal rights for GLBTQ folks.
Republicans would put boots on the ground again in the Mid-East.
Republicans would back Israel no matter what (refusal to stop settlements and opposition to the Two State Solution not withstanding).
And I come from a Republican family.
My father wouldn't recognize the current Republican/Tea Party group as "Republican" at all. He was an Eisenhower, Rockefeller, Brooke Republican.
"Who are these people?" he would ask, if he could.
I ask the same thing. Is this really one of the two American parties or something else altogether?
Goldwater wouldn't recognize this fiasco as his party. I'm sure of that.
God help us....
Appalachian 'food group'
I've eaten a 12 ounce tub of Pimento Cheese in the last 4 days. Probably more than is healthy since the tub tells me it is 12 servings and each serving has 20% of a day's fat intake and 140 calories (120 from fat). So, I've had 3 servings a day for four days. Not good....
But I was so excited when I found Pimento Cheese in the cooler next to row upon row of hummus (a much healthier choice!) that I couldn't resist.
Pimento cheese, along with gravy, was a food group where I come from. When we go to the beach in September, Sherry Ellis (who's from South Carolina) always stocks up on Pimento cheese and she and I (out of the 6 people in the house) eat it all.
Pimento Cheese is basically mild cheddar cheese, shredded, and mayo with whole eggs and some sugar and pimentos as an afterthought.
I've justified my binging on it by having eaten most of it with either gluten free, no wheat crackers or Pecan nut-thin crackers. The last bit I added some Pecante sauce to make it a tad healthier.
Pimento Cheese in New England--what an unexpected respite from the chill....
(Someday I'll write about gravy....)
But I was so excited when I found Pimento Cheese in the cooler next to row upon row of hummus (a much healthier choice!) that I couldn't resist.
Pimento cheese, along with gravy, was a food group where I come from. When we go to the beach in September, Sherry Ellis (who's from South Carolina) always stocks up on Pimento cheese and she and I (out of the 6 people in the house) eat it all.
Pimento Cheese is basically mild cheddar cheese, shredded, and mayo with whole eggs and some sugar and pimentos as an afterthought.
I've justified my binging on it by having eaten most of it with either gluten free, no wheat crackers or Pecan nut-thin crackers. The last bit I added some Pecante sauce to make it a tad healthier.
Pimento Cheese in New England--what an unexpected respite from the chill....
(Someday I'll write about gravy....)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)